Characteristics and Driving Forces of Spatial Expansion of Oasis Cities and Towns in Hexi Corridor, Gansu Province, China

This paper presents an integrated study of urban spatial expansion in the Hexi Corridor, Gansu Province, China based on TM, ETM remote sensing data in 1987, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2006 and 2011. The study explores the characteristics of urban spatial expansion and dynamic mechanism by using expansion speed index, expansion intensity index, compact index, fractal dimension, and extended flexibility index. We built the index system of influencing factors of urban spatial expansion by using the grey incidence model. The results showed that urban spatial expansion rate in the Hexi Corridor has been on the upward trend since 1987. Expansion intensity showed an obvious upward trend, however, the upward trend varied in different urban areas. In addition, the urban structure was loose relatively, but the urban compactness was more obvious. The urban spatial form tended to be simple, and the urban land use tended to become more intensive. Urban spatial expansion experienced several stages: padding internally, external expansion and padding internally. The main driving factors of urban spatial expansion are not the urban water resources and the oasis scale, but one or several factors such as economy, traffic, population, resource and national policy.

Problems in the Development of Small Cities and Towns in West China and Countermeasures: A Case Study of Luzhou City, Sichuan Province

New urbanization targets at coordinated urban-rural development, and construction of ecological and livable environment, it is the foundation for breaking urban-rural dual structure of China and promoting the agricultural modernization. Small cities and towns as carriers of new urbanization have already become important paths of realizing new urbanization and solving problems concerning 300 million peasants in China. Considering the requirements of new urbanization, this paper took Luzhou City in Sichuan Province for example to explore development path suitable for small cities and towns in west China and gave pertinent suggestions.

Survey and Analysis of Community Care Service in Cities and Towns from the Perspective of Internet

With the aging of the social population,community care has become another important care model between home care and institutional care.In order to fully understand the social cognition and demand of"Internet+community care",the project team conducted a questionnaire survey in accordance with the research objectives.The survey concluded that the public are still dependent on the traditional care,and do not know much about"Internet+community care",but are willing to try."Internet+community care"can not only enrich and innovate the care model,but also effectively solve the problems of limited pension resources and mismatch between supply and demand.It is conducive to promoting the realization of high-quality and efficient services for the aged.

Study on Landscape Character Assessment System in Small Cities and Towns

The paper elaborated landscape character assessment system of small cities and towns, defi ned the assessment objects, application range of assessment fruits, specifi c evaluation methods and procedures. Taking Gexianshan Town in Pengzhou City for example, technical means for assessing landscape characters were adopted for the landscape assessment, which provided professional support for the future planning.

Full scale application of combined SBF-AS process for municipal wastewater treatment in small towns and cities in China

The combined submerged biofilm （ SBF）-activated sludge （AS） process for treatment of municipal wastewater in a small city in China is described in this paper. The process exhibited high removal efficiencies for carbonaceous substances, nitrogen and phosphorus which mainly took place in the combined SBF-AS biore- actor. The SBF-AS bioreactor was divided into pre-anoxic, anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic zones from inlet to outlet, in which fixed biofilm carriers were packed. Excellent performance had been obtained under normal operating conditions in more than one year of operation in Dong＇ e municipal WWTP, Shandong province, with mean removal efficiencies of BOD5 93.4%, COD 88%, SS 92%, NH4 - N 82. 1%, TP 75% and TN 66.7%, and quite high effluent quality such as BOD5 6 to 10 rag/L, COD 20 to 40 rag/L, SS 5 to 10 rag/L, TN 10 to 20 rag/L, NH4 - N 4 to 8 mg/L and TP 0. 6 to 1.0 mg/L. The effluent was reused multi-purposely, such as toilet flushing, green belt watering and artificial lake pounding. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification took place due to the DO gradient in biofilm in aerobic zone of the SBF-AS bioreactor, which made TN removal efficiency improved remarkably in system. Some activated sludge was returned from final clarifiers to the bioreactor for phosphorus removal. The process had the advantages of low investment and low operational/ maintenance （O/M） costs, low sludge yield and was preferably employed in small towns and cities.

State will Step up Housing Reform in Cities and Towns

Starting from 1992, newly-built houseswill be put up for sale before being rentedout and new rents will be charged for newhouses,according to the Second WorkingConference of National Housing

A Preliminary Summary of the Experiment on Housing Cooperative in China's Cities and Towns

July 1986 saw the establishment of"Xin Xin Housing Cooperative", the first ofits kind in China, run by Shanghai Toy Ex-

China’s Urbanization Process and Outlook~

Starting JPom a low level China＇s rapid urOamzatlon ttas talcen on a targe scale over the past three decades. The urbanization of urban clusters has become a key driver of China＇s economic development. However, China＇s urbanization has been confronted with many issues, such as high resource and environmental costs, low level of citizenship for migrant workers, strong economic polarization and excessive dependence on land encroachment. In the near future, China＇s urbanization will enter a period of strategic transitioning, and the enhancement of the quality of urbanization will become a strategic priority. China＇s urbanization rate is projected to reach 60% by 2020 and 68% by 2030, eventually exceeding 80% by 2050. China＇s future urbanization must proceed from local realities, promote the balanced development of small, medium-sized and large cities and towns, optimize the spatial layout of urbanization, and follow a sensible pattern.

Update Planning and Design Concepts of Taiping Old Downtown Areas in Shuangliu

China has witnessed unprecedented rapid and massive urbanization in recent years, and the urbanization has infl uenced almost all corners of the country, which is a natural process and necessary result of the social and economic development. Development and expansion of cities has been the keynote of the contemporary era. Meanwhile, existence and future development of traditional urban areas that have gone through the long-term natural development have been faced with serious crisis. This paper focused on the relative constancy and changeability of major elements in the natural evolution of traditional cities and towns, so as to explore an organic development mechanism, and make a daring attempt in update planning of old downtown areas of Taiping Town in Shuangliu County. On this basis, the paper aims at exploring a new development concept for common cities and towns that balances inheritance and innovation.